Improve weekly layout when in portrait

[MarcAnt01]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I find the view of the schedule by week quite terrible, being used to the old app. The design should be imitated.

Describe the solution you'd like
Practically fourminor things:

• Fill the color of the box, instead of showing a small circle with the color;
• Make the width of days consistent (Monday and Wednesday are narrower for some reason);
• Reduce the font size of the content of the boxes.
• Don't show "room" when lacking horizontal space, like in the case of overlaps

Describe alternatives you've considered
None

Additional context

Are you willing to contribute to this issue? [Yes/No]
No

[lpezzolla]

We chose to take different design choices for usability reasons: applying a background to the full box makes it harder for people with color blindness, moreover the Agenda also includes exams, deadlines and bookings, which were not present in the previous app, hence the different styling.
I will keep this bug open for the differently sized columns, which is a bug, and I will evaluate with the rest of the team reducing the font size.

In the mean time, rotating your phone might solve all of your problems

[MarcAnt01]

We chose to take different design choices for usability reasons: applying a background to the full box makes it harder for people with color blindness.

Honestly I don't see yours as a solution, because the color is still the only way to distinguish subjects even with the design you picked, user will have to click every time on a subject to know what a time slot refers (which is a terrible ux to me). The problem of the color boxes is that they take useless space when the main problem of filling boxes with information is exactly the space.

moreover the Agenda also includes exams, deadlines and bookings

This information is quite extended, so it would probably make sense to just add a small warning above each day which is involved with any deadline/booking

BTW I tried the horizontal layout and it's even more terrible, since the header and bottom navigation occupy more than half of the screen, making me actually unable to visualize more than two consecutive slots 😅 (I have a 6-inches-display phone, I think on smallest phones it's actually totally unusable)

[Bri74]

We probably haven't found the perfect solution yet, but we did a lot of thinking about it, taking usability and accessibility into consideration. Reducing the font size is certainly not a solution that promotes accessibility for people with visual disabilities.

Honestly I don't see yours as a solution, because the color is still the only way to distinguish subjects even with the design you picked, user will have to click every time on a subject to know what a time slot refers (which is a terrible ux to me)

Sorry, but that's not correct. Icons are another way to distinguish courses, not based on colors.

Anyway, thank you for pointing out some weaknesses. We will take them into consideration for future improvements

[MarcAnt01]

@Bri74 I don't understand which icons you're referring to.
As an app developer myself I agree that it's important to take into account the usability of the app from impaired users, but your current design choices for the weekly view are disruptive both for visually impaired users and the other users.
The goal here should be to show the content of a slot within its given box, in the current state everyone has to open it. Honestly I think there is no other way for achieving it without making the font smaller, if the content is hardly readable, users can open the box to get an expanded view (like they're practically forced to do right now).
As a proof of concept, I have checked different mobile calendar apps, like the one included in AOSP and Google one and they both reduce the font of both the content of the boxes.

[MarcAnt01]

My complaint about the small circle is that it takes useless space in boxes, where every pixel should be saved for displaying more information.

[Bri74]

@Bri74 I don't understand which icons you're referring to.

Have you downloaded the last version? Have you seen the "onboarding" that shows what is changed with the new app? You can customize courses appearance (color and icon).

Honestly I think this interface can be improved but I don't consider it terrible at all. Anyway, as said, we will continue to work to improve it.

[MarcAnt01]

I don't want to be disrespectful towards the efforts you are certainly putting towards the development of the app, but I think the design shown in the screenshot is not thought at all for a final user.
A student wants to open the app and know which lesson is going to take place where, having to click on the box of subject for me is a failure of the design that hasn't shown managed to show the very basic information.

A student would like to know WHAT IS THE LESSON, WHERE IS THE LESSON. The design of the old app allowed to see it quickly. While on Friday morning, a student only sees two overlaps of "Au" who know where in the new app, failing to show both information.

As for the icons, they're not available in the version I filled in the ticket details, unless I am missing something, I think this solution may be ok for a high school subject, where you can associate to maths a function symbol, to English a dictionary etc, but since university subjects are more complex this can only be an additional source of confusion.
I have seen that you have added the name of the subject, but this is another step backwards, because still there is lack of space and there is no point of showing only a letter, the old app instead, as stated in the issue, even removes the word "Aula" when there is not enough space, this is the direction I think the design should follow.

[Bri74]

As said, we will work to improve it.
The picture wanted to show you the icons I was referring to, it didn't intend to defend it as a perfect design.

As for the icons, they're not available in the version I filled in the ticket details, unless I am missing something, I think this solution may be ok for a high school subject, where you can associate to maths a function symbol, to English a dictionary etc, but since university subjects are more complex this can only be an additional source of confusion.

The icons were certainly already available.
I can't agree with you about the usefulness of icons and all the students we interviewed during the project confirmed their appreciation. Anyway, fortunately, you can avoid to use them. :)

[MarcAnt01]

The icons were certainly already available.

Nvm, I think I found the option, I expected them to be set in the agenda section, but they were in the teaching section (not sure if this is where a user expects to find such option).

[Bri74]

That's not an agenda property, it's a course property (that reflects on agenda).
Anyway I'm quite sure: as said we involved students in several usability tests during the project.

Are you willing to contribute to this issue? [Yes/No]
No

A real shame! :)

[MarcAnt01]

Are you willing to contribute to this issue? [Yes/No]
No

A real shame! :)

Well, I guess it depends on what's meant by contribution, for providing feedback I'm always open, but unfortunately I have no knowledge of Javascript/ React Native for embarking pull requests

[MarcAnt01]

Hey, I have received the last beta version and now it is kinda usable. The irregular width of the columns is no longer present and the content is more readable. In spite of that there seem to be some cut lines (green circle) and overlaps of the texture (purple circle).
Finally, I think the implementation of a legend would still be good, especially for overlaps (lessons at the same time) and single slots (only 1.5 hs) where only the room number should be displayed for the sake of saving space